Do You Love Me, Sasuke?
by NanDeMoNai
Summary: It's only a question, isn't it? But what if you answer it? What will happen? [Oneshot, Yaoi, SasuNaru, Giant Fluff warning!]


**A/N: Hoping that you guys like this! It's pretty darn long though, so take your time. I specialize in SasuNaru fluffiness, so if you like that kind of stuff, enjoy! Please leave a review too! Almost forgot! This story is final! I will not be adding anymore. My writing style is to leave the story off at random endings. You guys can fill in the blank. If there seems to be loose-ends, that's why! Sorry, if I try to force more to the story, it won't be good!**

There. There he is. His victim. His prey. He was walking down a roughly worn down dirt road through the forest. It was risky, attacking in broad daylight, but there was no time left. From his lookout point he jumped to the next tree.

Nearer. Nearer than before. His victim didn't seem to notice. Good. With deadly stealth he continued until he was within attacking range.

"HAI!" he yelled and jumped down, wrapping his arms around the victim's shoulders and neck. "Got you!"

Poof! A swirl of smoke exploded within his arms and he found himself holding onto a log. Leftover momentum sent him face first into the dirt. No… Oh no… He felt his collar being pulled up milliseconds after his fall.

His arms went in front of his body protectively. This wasn't the place where he should die! His eyes were clenched shut, his breathing irregular and hard. Suddenly he felt his shirt being dusted off and later his hand was being pulled down

It all happened too quickly. Too quickly for him to react and before he knew it, he was being pulled down along the road. Hopping along so that he wouldn't fall over, he opened his eyes and started to walk along with his "victim".

"Dobe, you can't try to attack someone when you make as much noise as a band of my rabid fangirls…"

A whine crept out of his throat. "Aw, Sasuke, you're no fun! That hurt!" His lower lip stuck out and he pouted, still being tugged along.

"Then don't do that next time, Naruto!" Sasuke scolded, his left hand stuffed in his pocket and his other hand laced between Naruto's fingers.

"How about you buy me some ramen to apologize?" he asked hopefully.

"No," Sasuke said flatly, not even bothering to point out that he didn't do anything.

"Aahh, Sasuke-teme!" he whined again as they went back into Konoha. The giant gates towered over them and they waved to the guards as they passed by. Naruto sulked a bit, his shoulders hunched over. "Fine!" he said after a minute or two.

"Hn," Sasuke smirked a bit at Naruto's behavior.

"I'm running low on equipment from our last mission, let's go buy some more!" he suggested, running a step or two ahead of Sasuke and pulling him forward.

"Fine, fine…" he agreed halfheartedly.

A grin flitted on Naruto's face as he went back to Sasuke's side. They walked down the busy streets of Konoha, Naruto chattering away and Sasuke listening with an expression that made him appear uninterested. In truth, he was listening to every word the blonde was rambling on about and silently commenting on each one to himself.

Suddenly Naruto whispered something into Sasuke's ear and his eyebrows twitched. The almost unnoticeable blush found its way to Sasuke's cheeks. His hand tightened around Naruto's.

"Aiie, I'm just joking, joking!" Naruto screeched, sweating and trying to get his hand out of the deadly vice grip Sasuke put on him. It wasn't until a second or two after he apologized that his hand was released.

Sasuke proceeded to put his hand back into his pocket and watched Naruto out of the corner of his eye. "That huuurts!" he heard as the blonde shook his hand a few times to get rid of the pain.

---

"Ahh, have you heard?" a girl complained to her group of friends.

"Heard what?" one of them asked curiously. The entire group chattered and repeated the question an unnecessary amount of times.

"Hm?" Sakura turned her head to the bustling group of girls as she and Ino passed by. Being curious, both of them slowed down to catch what the leader of the group was talking about. Sakura shrugged to Ino when she received a questioning look.

"Sasuke… Sasuke's been claimed by someone!" the leader wailed loudly.

"What? No!" a crescendo of complaints and disbelief rose from the group.

Sakura blinked a few times when she processed the information. "Who do you think it is, Ino?" she asked and continued walking.

Ino growled and clenched her fist in front of her face. "I don't care, but I'll get rid of that leech as soon as possible!" Her eyes flashed dangerously and she sprinted off.

"Hey, Ino! Wait, Ino!" Sakura cried and raised her arm to try and keep her back. Seeing that it was impossible to do so, she sighed and gave up.

---

"Sasuke, are you coming in too?" Naruto asked when they reached the shop.

"Hn? No, I'll just stay here…" he replied with his infamous monotone voice.

"Okay!" the blonde chirped cheerfully and went inside, leaving Sasuke behind.

Several dull minutes passed when Sasuke heard his name being called.

"Sasuke-kuuun!" He turned to see Ino walking toward him, her arm raised and vigorously waving at him. His eyelids dropped a bit at her arrival.

"Sasuke-kun, how are you?" she asked in typical fangirl tone.

"Fine."

"Uh…" she ignored his one word response and looked around quickly for something, or someone. "So, are you here by yourself?" she asked with a glint in her eyes.

"No."

"Ah… I see… I've heard that—"

"Sasuke! I'm done!" A blur of orange and yellow bolted out of the shop they were standing in front of and latched itself onto Sasuke's waist.

"Hn?" He lifted his arm a bit and glanced down. "Heard that what?" he asked Ino, completely ignoring Naruto, who was so comfortably under his arm now.

"Aaahh…." Her mouth stayed open for a while and she froze on the spot. _It's Naruto?Naruto?_ she asked herself incredulously. She watched as Sasuke use his other arm to smooth down Naruto's hair and take his hand. "Nothing… Nothing…" she murmured and drifted off aimlessly.

"What was that about, Sasuke?" Naruto asked impatiently as he messed up his hair again.

"Nothing…" he said quietly, hiding away a smile of amusement. "Let's go." 

"Ramen?" he asked with bright blue eyes.

"No."

"Uwah, but I'm hungry!" he complained.

"It's not even two yet," Sasuke said in a matter-of-factly voice.

"Huaaah," he whined, stopping in the middle of the street and swinging Sasuke's arm back and for with his hands like a pouting child.

"No, Naruto, let's go…" he patiently brushed off his arms and continued walking.

"Where?" he asked, still unhappy that he wasn't able to buy ramen.

"Training," when Sasuke realized that he wasn't getting a positive response he added, "Or if you want, we can spar…"

There was a second for Naruto to think it over. "Let's go!" he said and dragged Sasuke off without a warning.

---

"_Now_ can we go buy ramen?" Naruto panted and walked over to Sasuke, who was on a tree branch looking down at him.

"Naruto, you have to eat something other than ramen all the time…" he said and jumped down. He started to walk and ignore Naruto's complaints and whines.

"But I trained with you!" he tried to bribe Sasuke.

"No, you're coming over to my place to eat tonight," Sasuke said with a voice that made Naruto stop complaining and resigned to a pout. A mischievous grin replaced his pout when an idea came into his mind. He stopped walking. "Carry me," he called to Sasuke's back.

"What?" the Uchiha turned his head to look at Naruto.

"Carry me," he repeated.

"No…" he replied to the request.

"Carry me or I'll tell everyone—" he was abruptly cut off when Sasuke crouched down in front of him, his back facing Naruto.

"Get on," he said reluctantly, his lips pressed into a frown. Naruto grinned at his victory and clambered onto his back. "Hold on tight," Sasuke commanded him in mock annoyance.

Although he was usually emotionless on the outside, he would make an exception when Naruto was around. Even so, he wasn't comfortable showing his emotions and would pretend to be annoyed or angry with him. He enjoyed carrying Naruto as much as Naruto liked bothering him.

Naruto buried his head onto Sasuke's neck and grinned happily.

"You're heavy," Sasuke told him dully but only received a giggle from him. On the way home, Sasuke chose all the empty streets to avoid being seen with Naruto on his back. The blonde didn't care though since he was too busy talking to Sasuke to notice.

When Sasuke reached the door to his house and opened the door, Naruto jumped off and raced inside. Sasuke sighed and rubbed his shoulders, twisting a bit to make his back less stiff.

"Naruto, don't mess up anything!" he yelled as he went inside and closed the door. He looked around before he heard small muffled sounds from his room upstairs. "Naruto!" he called out as he darted up and saw him sitting on the bed. Holding…

"PUT THAT AWAY!" he commanded, a vein twitching on his head.

"But Sasuke, it's so cute!" Naruto complained.

Sasuke dropped his usual expression and scowled, tramped over to his bed, snatched the thing from Naruto's hands and stuffed it away. "I hate it when you do that…" he muttered and dragged him out, locking his door as well.

"Waah, Sasuke!" he wailed when he was forced down on a seat in the kitchen. He crossed his arms and glared a hole into Sasuke's back as he prepared dinner for the two of them.

"Stop death glaring me or I won't feed you at all," Sasuke said without turning around.

"Hmph!" Naruto turned his head to the side and stuck his head up in the air. He heard the clatter of metal as Sasuke put the lid onto the pot of cooking soup. Then a scrape of wood against wood as he pulled back a chair. He finally opened his eyes and saw Sasuke staring at him with blank eyes with his fingers laced in front of him like he likes to do whenever he sits down.

Naruto clenched his teeth together when he started to get affected by the unwavering gaze that held him on the spot. Sweat ran down the side of his face as the seconds ticked by. A small sound escape from his throat. He watched as Sasuke narrowed his eyes just a bit… _Just_… a bit…

"Alright, I'm sorry!" he burst out finally. "Just… stop staring at me like that…" his eye twitched.

Sasuke stood up and turned away, concealing a small smile that he wore. "Hn…" He walked over to the pot of soup and lifted the lid carefully. Picking up a ladle he stirred it a bit and took out two bowls.

---

"I'm going to shower… Don't do anything funny, okay?" Sasuke warned him as he walked upstairs to the restroom. Halfway up the stairs and the next floor, he glanced down and saw Naruto sitting on the couch, his eyes wandering over his book case. Sighing and hoping that Naruto actually heard what he said he walked to the bathroom.

A brief and slightly rushed shower later, Sasuke came out of the bathroom in his pajamas and a towel around his neck. Trying hard not to run like a madman downstairs to check on Naruto, he briskly hopped down the stairs and rushed over to the couch.

"What have you…" he started to say accusingly and looked over the back of the couch. He sighed in relief when he saw that the idiot had merely fallen asleep. His lips pursed into a small kiss-like state as he wondered what to do with him. He had intended that Naruto would go back home after he was done entertaining his guest but that idea was banished.

He grumbled and complained to himself quietly as he rubbed his hair with the towel and trekked back upstairs to his room. Fumbling around for the key to his room for a few seconds he finally located the right one and jabbed it in. He flicked his wrist and unlocked it.

The door swung open and he went inside silently. A quick glance at the clock reported the time. 10: 38 p.m. It was too late and wearisome to take out the spare futon. _Besides_, Sasuke mused to himself, _I don't feel like it... and my bed is big enough…_

He walked over to his bed and pulled back a corner of his blanket before going downstairs again. Going over to the front of the couch, he picked Naruto up and carefully maneuvered his way back to his room, trying hard not to wake the blonde up.

Sasuke gingerly put Naruto down on the bed and took off his jacket. Out of habit he folded it neatly and put it on a nearby chair. With that off he readjusted Naruto's body so that he was lying on the bed and not the blankets.

Pale moonlight spilled through the window as Sasuke pulled up the sheets and covered Naruto up. A gentle smile stretched Sasuke's lips a bit as he pulled the curtains over the window and crawled onto the opposite side of the bed. Wriggling a few times to get comfortable he turned to his side and fell asleep.

---

The next morning Sasuke awoke with a strange weight strewn across his waist. "Uh…?" he opened his eyes groggily and looked down. It was a few minutes later when he realized what was holding him. _Well, it wasn't too surprising that Naruto turns around in his sleep..._ he rolled his eyes and suppressed a sigh.

Sasuke looked at his clock and saw that it was 8. _Time to get up…_he said to himself and tried to get up slowly. He stopped when he felt the arms tighten around him.

"Don't go yet…" he heard and felt on his neck. Naruto's lips brushed against his neck as he spoke. Sasuke shuddered a bit when he finally understood how close they were. He could do nothing but to obey Naruto's demand. His body went limp again and he felt Naruto begin to talk. "Do you love me?"

Sasuke didn't answer. Just because it was a strange and awkward situation, he didn't answer.

"C'mon Sasuke…" Each word that Naruto said made shivers go down Sasuke's back.

"Yeah…" he answered reluctantly, wondering why he was asking such serious questions at eight in the morning. And in a position like this!

"How much?" Naruto continued his interrogation.

Sasuke sighed. _This was really, really embarrassing_, Sasuke concluded to himself. "Enough…" he paused and felt his jaw tighten. _Answer him and you get to get out of here… Just… answer him… _"Enough to die for you… happy?"

Naruto's lips twitched as he smiled. "But then I'll be sad without you…" he complained in a low voice.

"Hn…" Sasuke hummed and tried to get up again. Naruto's arms didn't loosen.

"I think… If you died, I would die with you… So that I wouldn't have to feel bad and lonely…"

"Don't be stupid, Naruto," Sasuke sighed again.

"Promise me that you won't die with me though, Sasuke?"

"What kind of twisted logic is that, dobe?"

"Just promise me…" the blonde pleaded. It puzzled Sasuke to hear Naruto talk so seriously.

"Fine, fine… I promise," he said just to make Naruto content.

"Hehe…" Naruto's breath tickled Sasuke's neck as he chuckled. "Thanks, Sasuke…" His arms slackened. Sasuke sat up slowly and looked over his shoulder. He caught a glimpse of sad blue eyes before Naruto turned away and hunched over.

_Something doesn't feel right… _He turned his body and leaned down to kiss the blonde on the cheek before going to do his daily morning tasks.

When he returned he was greeted with an empty room and a note on the bed.

_Sasuke,_

_I'm going back home to wash up and maybe eat some ramen later, since _somebody_ didn't get me some… I'll probably see if Tsunade-baa-chan has a mission for us! It's been rather dull since we don't have anything to do since last week. See you there, maybe!_

_--Naruto_

---

"Baa-chan, please?" Naruto's voice crept under the crack of the door and whispered its way outside, where if one was near enough, you could hear it…

"If you stopped calling an old lady, I might, but no," Tsunade rolled her eyes sarcastically.

"Baa-chaan…" he stretched out ridiculously long and high-pitched, "Please, just his once?"

"Naruto, you know that we can't afford to do something like that! Even if we did… You might get hurt… Badly hurt…" her eyebrows wrinkled as she looked genuinely worried.

"Just… Once?" He clasped his hands in front of her and fell to his knees dramatically.

Tsnuade opened her mouth to say something but before she could Sasuke walked in. Naruto stood up quickly and dusted off his knees, trying to look nonchalant. Sasuke's eyebrow rose a bit but he didn't say anything.

"Ah, Sasuke…" Tsnuade greeted him and rummaged through several stacks of paper on her desk, ignoring the two of them for a few minutes. They both stood there in uncomfortable silence when the Hokage paused uncertainly, looking at a file in her hand. A nearly inaudible sigh skittered out of her lips as she picked up another file from her desk and tossed the previous one aside.

"Sasuke, Naruto!" she yelled out the second name since he was daydreaming.

Sasuke blinked and Naruto snapped out of his dazed state.

"This morning we received an urgent A-rank mission and since you three, including Sakura, hadn't have anything to do since last week, I'm assigning it to Team Seven! Kakashi is away on an S-rank mission so you'll have to be careful. Lately there have been reports of murders and robberies around the borders of Konoha. I want you three to check it out and if possible, capture them! Of course, safety is always first. If you discover that they are more than you can handle, then come back for help immediately! Be ready to go in an hour!"

"Yes, baa-chan…" Naruto said lazily. Sasuke nodded.

"Sasuke, inform Sakura of the mission. Since you're here, Naruto, get Iruka for me. There's a mission I want to see him about… Go!" she waved them off and started to look for another file, her face locked in concentration.

---

"Shh…" Sakura put her finger on her lips and stretched out her left arm to stop Sasuke and Naruto. The two of them landed silently on the branches next to her. Soft rustling filled the air as a breeze passed by.

Three pairs of eyes followed the rapid shadow of someone… Someone… The ninja darted to another tree quickly. They were higher than him and could see where he was going. Naruto was about to go forward when they saw another three follow the first ninja.

_Shoot, there's more than them than of us…_ Sasuke cursed. He watched as Sakura pointed to him and held up two fingers, pointing at one of the ninja, then at another. He nodded at her message and sprinted off after two of them, who were heading in the same general direction.

He turned his head a bit just in time to see Sakura and Naruto run after the other two. He readied a few shruikens and kunais in case the ninjas found out about him. Mere seconds after he took out the weapons a kunai whistled through the air next to him and he narrowly missed it.

He stopped on a tree branch and activated his Sharingan in hopes of keeping them at bay. He was able to spot something and was about to pursue the ninja when a bloodcurdling scream rang through the forest. It was a hoarse scream, not a shrill one as he would except from Sakura.

_Naruto!_ He thought, panicking. Abandoning the chase quickly but carefully, he located where Naruto was. With Sakura. He was on the floor, clutching at a kunai that was embedded in his right thigh. Sakura was crouching over him with a worried look on her face.

"Are they still here?" she asked quietly to him as Sasuke looked around warily.

He shook his head absentmindedly. "I don't think so. They ran off… What's wrong? Why is Naruto…?" he went over to the blonde, who was rolling around on the floor in pain.

"The kunai's tip was coated with poison…" Sakura reported softly. She held up another kunai and showed it to him. It was glittering with some sort of gooey liquid.

"Can't you remove it?" he accused her of just sitting there. His eyebrows furrowed.

"I… I can't… This I don't know how yet… Even if I do try… Naruto… Naruto will… still die…" she dropped the vial she was holding.

"What's that?"

"Painkiller… He should at least go away painlessly…" tears trickled down her face as she looked away from the shuddering Naruto.

"No… No!" Sasuke leaned over at Naruto and put his hands on his shoulder to calm him down. "You're not going to die! Not from a kunai! Not from a kunai… Not now, not so easily! We have to get him to Konoha! Now, let's go!" he started to pick Naruto up.

"Don't… It'll make the poison travel faster… Sasuke… Don't… Konoha is an hour away right now… We can't reach there soon enough…" she cried, holding him back.

"Sasuke…" a faint whisper stopped both of them. It was like a whisper of feathers against soft, cold air. Fluttering and temporary.

"What is it, Naruto?" Sasuke's eyes were dilated from fear. His voice shook with each syllable that came from his throat. He had to lean down close to Naruto's paling lips to hear him talk.

"Don't forget your promise, Sasuke…" he breathed with difficulty and his back arched off the ground as a particularly painful shock went through his body. A film of sweat made Naruto's forehead glean in the mid-afternoon sun.

"No… Naruto, don't! Sakura, help him, do something!" he pleaded frantically.

"I can't! I can't!" she said just as desperately. She started clawing at her hair. "Tsunade… Promised to teach me about poisons today! Today…" she stood up and leaned against a nearby tree, her shoulders shaking violently.

Naruto shook his head weakly. "Sasuke… Don't blame her… She can't…" his voice was thick with phlegm. "Besides…" his faint smile contorted into a grimace as he spoke, "Now… Now she'll have you all to herself…" A humorless chuckle escaped his lips turned into a scream of pain.

Sasuke didn't want to listen to Naruto talk like that. "You're not going to die!" he said stubbornly, hugging Naruto's cooling body. He could feel his trembling and hear his soft whimpering.

His chest heaved as he tried to breathe. Naruto's hands tightened around the kunai's blade and blood trickled from his hand as he cut it. The red liquid seeped into his pants and he coughed violently. "This… This is what you get for not letting me have ramen…" he was still able to joke as his eyes became hazier by the second. On his neck, he felt something wet and warm go down. "Sasuke… don't cry…" he pleaded. "Don't…"

With a bloody hand, he stroked Sasuke's head lightly, wincing in pain. A sob escaped from Sakura's throat as she watched the two of them. Naruto's eyes grew heavier and heavier as he started to grow numb.

"Nice… knowing you two, huh?" he was able to croak out softly. Sasuke shook his head vigorously against Naruto's neck as he felt his body relax. Painful seconds passed as the only thing they heard was the rasping of Naruto's breath...

Until… finally that stopped too…

"Naruto!" Sakura cried out shrilly and ran back to him, kneeling down and crying. Sasuke stayed there, hugging him and crying silently.

Low laughter echoed through the trees. It was so malicious. So dark, so evil, so murderous… Sakura and Sasuke looked up to see four dark shadows surrounding them. "Isn't it beautiful? The death of a friend?" one of them chortled.

"Oh, it's so touching," another one chirped. All four of them laughed as each of them leapt down from the trees one by one.

"Who are you?" Sasuke was standing up, guarding Naruto's body with a kunai in his hand. Masks concealed their identity.

"Who are we?" the third one spoke with a grating voice. He removed his mask.

The forest fell silent for a moment. The wind stopped talking to the leaves and the birds halted their conversations. Just to see whose face it was behind that mask.

"Iruka…" Sakura choked out. "Iruka-sensei, no!"

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan? Surprised?" his voice returned to normal. He sauntered arrogantly over to Naruto's body. Sasuke was shoved away carelessly and held back by two of the other ninjas as Iruka leaned down to the dead body.

"Don't, Sakura-chan… You don't want to be like him, now do you?" a raised kunai and a smirk held her back as she too was taken into a headlock. Iruka poured some white powdery stuff into Naruto's parted lips.

"What is that, you traitor?!" Sasuke screamed and struggled against the arms of his captors.

"Something to keep our little Naruto from rotting… You see, our collection has been lacking…" he chuckled and stood up, going over to Sasuke. "Does it hurt, Sasuke-_kun_?" he emphasized at the suffix.

"Does it hurt to see Naruto die like this? To be killed by a poison that little Sakura couldn't remove? Don't you wish you had left with Orochimaru? Maybe you wouldn't have seen something like this then, hm?" Iruka slapped him lightly on the cheek with the back of his hand and lifted his head to gloat.

Sasuke growled when he did that. Somewhere off in the corner, Sakura was struggling to get out of the hands of the ninja that was holding her. "Let me go!" she screamed and kicked. A whack on her neck made her limp.

"Sakura!" Sasuke felt the arms of his captors loosen. _What are they doing? Do they want me to fight them?_ He thought to himself quickly as he ran forward.

"Not so fast, Sasuke-kun…" he heard Iruka taunt.

"Nnrugh…" Naruto suddenly bolted upright.

_Holy—_

"Ugh, ew, Iruka-sensei, that's some nasty tasting herb… Blech, blech…" he stuck his tongue out a few times to try and get rid of the leftover powder in his mouth.

"Naruto?" Sasuke nearly screeched at him.

"Hey, good morning!" Naruto waved cheerfully as if nothing had happened.

A good humored laugh erupted from behind Sasuke. Iruka was laughing. But not with murderous intent this time. He was really … just laughing. The other three ninjas started to laugh as well and removed their mask. Tsunade, Kakshi, Gai… Sakura also sat up and giggled to herself.

"What?" Sasuke looked around himself confused.

"Hey, congratulations, Sasuke, you passed!" 

"Passed…?" _This was a freaking test or something?!_

Kakshi spoke up. "Yeah, you passed Naruto's test."

"I was pretty convincing, wasn't I?" Sakura laughed to the three teachers. Sasuke stood there looking dumbfounded as Naruto began to clean up the drying "blood" off his hands.

"You!" he yelled and stomped over the blonde, pulling him up by his collar. "Explain!" he commanded.

"Itai! I was getting there! Let me go!" he squeaked. Red Sharingan eyes held him in place. "Okay, I'll tell, I'll tell!" The other five gathered around them as Naruto started to explain.

---

"_Please? Lend me them just for today! I want to see if he really cares about me!" Naruto asked Tsunade as she stared at him, deadpanned._

"_No, Naruto! What kind of ridiculous request is that?" she sighed heavily and sat up higher in her chair._

"_Come on, it'll be fun! I pretend to die and you guys get to be the bad guys!" he tried to lure her into his plan._

"_Although it sounds tempting, no!"_

"_Aww, Tsunade-baa-chan!"_

"_Sasuke'll be furious with you…"_

"That only means that he cares for me!" Naruto said stubbornly.

"_We're not going to be responsible for any injuries he causes to you," she said mockingly._

"_Baa-chan, please?" Naruto's voice crept under the crack of the door and whispered its way outside, where if one was near enough, you could hear it…_

"_If you stopped calling an old lady, I might, but no," Tsunade rolled her eyes sarcastically._

"_Baa-chaan…" he stretched out ridiculously long and high-pitched, "Please, just his once?"_

"_Naruto, you know that we can't afford to do something like that! Even if we did… You might get hurt… Badly hurt…" her eyebrows wrinkled as she looked genuinely worried._

---

"Baa-chan finally gave in and got some herbs for me. Iruka, Kakashi, Gai, and her pretended to be the bad guys. While you chased after Kakshi and Gai, Sakura gave me an herb that would take me through a near-death state. The kunai was a genjutsu, but thankfully, you were so frantic you didn't notice!" Naruto beamed at Sakura as an intermission to his story. "But, geez, that was really uncomfortable. I really wasn't acting all that out, it really hurts! Well, then all Iruka had to do was to make you go insane and here we are! But, you passed!"

Amused smiles went around as Sasuke let Naruto down again. His head was down so they couldn't see his face. Keeping his head down, Sasuke reached out and hugged Naruto. A few seconds passed when Naruto's eye suddenly started twitching.

"S-Sasuke…" he panted out.

"This is what you get for messing with me!" he yelled and tightened the "hug" quite a bit.

---

"Fine, I'm sorry for nearly breaking your back in two…" Sasuke half-heartedly apologized, leaning on the outside of his bathroom's door.

"Hmph!" was his only reply. Suddenly the door unlocked and swung inside, nearly making Sasuke fall. Naruto was clad in his pajamas and his cap on his head. He stomped past Sasuke and went into the room.

"Hey, remember, you're the one who embarrassed me in front of everyone!" Sasuke called out after Naruto.

"I'll forgive you if you let me sleep with 'it'!"

"What? Did you even hear what I said?" he objected. His shoulders drooped when Naruto swung his head to the other side and pouted, his arms crossed. "Fine, fine…"

Naruto darted over to the closet and threw out a few boxes until he crawled back out with "it" in his arms. Sasuke sighed pathetically and went over to his bed.

"Urfph!" he yelled as Naruto landed on top of him with his leap. "Off!" he commanded and pushed the blonde off him, trying to breathe again.

Naruto chuckled and poked Sasuke. "I can't believe you still have it though!"

"Hn… Shut up and go to sleep…" Sasuke muttered and turned off the light, turning away quickly.

"Hmm. Sasuke… No fun!" Naruto snuggled next to him and turned away, so their backs were against each other.

That night, Naruto fell asleep clutching "it". What is "it" anyway?

I must stop here and laugh as well, because "it" is really a hastily sewn together plushie that was a sorry look-alike of Sasuke. But why was it so important? Why, of course, I will say, Naruto made it for him when they were younger…

---

"_Happy birthday, Sasuke!"_

"_What? How do you know my birthday?"_

_Naruto rolled his eyes. "Well, gee, only the entire girl population has been talking about it for the last … oh, I don't know… Month?" he smirked and handed him a haphazardly taped together box._

"_Ew, what is this?" Sasuke poked it warily._

"_Open it!" Naruto said proudly._

_With some apprehension, Sasuke did open it. He stared at… Well, himself... "It's ugly. I hate it," he said flatly._

"_Teme! Watch what you're saying!"_

"_It's. Ugly. Dobe." Sasuke said with emphasis on each word._

_What followed was a fight that had to be separated by Iruka._

---

Sure, Sasuke had said he hated it, but he really couldn't just throw the gift away right? Ah-ha, that's what you think until you consider the fact that almost everyone else's gift to him was tossed away without a glance. Then again… who really wants to keep a girly picture of someone you don't even know? Ugh, fangirls just had no idea that "signed photographs" of themselves do not make good presents…


End file.
